Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: William Barton and Veronique Serret in the studio  

To kick off Australian Music Month, ABC Classic launched its first virtual choir project, which will premiere a new Christmas carol, commissioned by the ABC from Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham. Anyone can sign up to sing the carol, download the music to practise at home, join online rehearsals, and then upload a video of themselves singing the carol by 27 November. Contributions will be pulled together in a video and recording to be released on 15 December.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers and musicians will be highlighted across NAIDOC week. 8-11 November, daily at 1pm, hear concerts and recordings of music by First Nations composers, including:

• a broadcast of the Australian String Quartet's 'Quartet and Country' project
• a special focus on the music produced as part of the Ngarra-Burria: First Nations Composers program across the years
• the release of a brand-new recording and an episode of New Waves from the ABC's Fresh Start commissioning project: 'An Old Piano Plays New Indigenous Music' (featuring composers Rhyan Clapham, Nardi Simpson, Timothy Gray, and Elizabeth Sheppard), and 'Heartland' by William Barton and Veronique Serret.

Hear from Australian musicians in Legends (3pm Tuesdays) and Duet (3pm Thursdays), featuring Genevieve Lacey (3 November), Claire Edwardes (5 November), Emma Matthews, William Barton, Alice Giles, Andrew Ford and Nigel Westlake. You can listen to all of these programs on the ABC Classic website for a month after broadcast.

Across the week of 16 November, ABC Classic celebrates Peggy Glanville-Hicks on the Mornings playlist with Martin Buzacott (10am-1pm weekdays). You can also hear her operas The Transfigured Heads (1pm on 19 November) and Sappho (7pm on 22 November). Ros Bandt, winner of the 2020 Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the 2020 Art Music Awards, will also feature in a special program at 8pm on 27 November.

The Jazz team's special focus this month is a broadcast of the Tribute to Don Burrows on 28 November at 4pm on ABC Jazz. This is a recording of the first live concert (see YouTube) at the Sydney Opera House after COVID-19 restrictions eased, held just last weekend, and will include stories and memories of Don Burrows. Performers include Emma Pask, James Morrison, Andy Firth and friends, with presenter Mal Stanley.